Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Boston Bruins - The Cure For Insomnia

Out of the 10 or so games on Centre Ice last night, the one I avoided like the plague was the Carolina - Boston tilt which ended up 1-0 for the Canes. If at all possible, I'll avoid Boston games as well as Columbus, Dallas and Florida. If I'm forced to watch because nothing else is on, I have to get drunk. It's simply not worth putting your mind through that type of meatgrinder on a nightly basis.

"Just two years ago, the average number of goals was nearly six per game. The downward trend has been a prime topic of discussion among the league’s governors and GMs, with speculation that the next off-season will see a further decrease in the size of goaltender equipment and perhaps an increase in the dimensions of the net. "

"There’s much emphasis on defense this season,” said a longtime scout who watched the game to detect individual skills and habits in an environment in which players rarely had time and space to do anything.

“It seems like every team is trying to play tighter, collapse toward the net, block more shots, block lanes and trap more,” said the scout. “You see that trend whether it’s in the Eastern Conference or the Western Conference. There just aren’t as many (shooting) lanes as there used to be to get pucks through to the net. So you have goaltenders stopping the shots, the shots that get through, which aren’t as dangerous as they would be if shooters were getting clear looks. When you see 5-6-7 bodies in front, it’s pretty hard to pick a corner. "